I worked as a teenager and paid my own way at an early age. I learned to work on my vehicles because I couldn't afford to pay to have them fixed. This molded my view of cars and probably of the world. When I look at a car I see every part of it and the functions they serve and the systems they compose. I also see them as transportation tools and status symbols and works of art. Some of the people I grew up with were handed cars, etc and they look at them as transportation tools (conveniences) and status symbols and works of art. Sometimes I wish I had their view instead of mine.

I think it would be a different country if kids spent one summer fixing an old broken lawnmower and cutting yards with it for money. The technical skills and the concepts of bootstrapping and business would go a long way toward molding character.